Tackling Tool Theft
Tradespeople are too often ignored when their tools and livelihoods are ripped right out of their vans.
That is completely unacceptable - we all need tradespeople, they make the local economy work and provide huge assistance to people in all manner of situations.
I'm working to raise awareness of the issue, get the police the resources they need to take more investigative and enforcement action, and lobby manufacturers to do more to help address the situation.
I spoke to Fix Radio about my campaign to get the government to take this issue seriously - including through new legislation giving the police and trading standards the powers they need to solve more of these crimes.
Tool Theft is a serious - and too often underreported - problem.
We all need tradesmen. They are the backbone of our community - and their ability to do their job is seriously hampered when criminals break into their vans, or their sites, and steal thousands of pounds worth of tools in minutes.
For many it doesn't just disrupt their work - it seriously threatens their livelihoods and it undermines the confidence that Sutton and Cheam is a great place to do business.
We have to do more - and I'm backing campaigners' calls for tougher sentences for tool thieves, as well as a raft of measures to ensure greater protection from the crime - including more serious regulation of sales of second-hand tools.
I joined the Stop Tool Theft rally outside Parliament and heard more from traders across the country who desperately need action on this issue.
After a request from my office, the Met Police confirmed to me that 9 in 10 tool thefts in London went unsolved in the last 5 years.
These numbers highlight just how underresourced the Met are and how badly tradespeople are being let down.
So I held a tool-theft roundtable over the summer and visited the Kimpton Estate to hear more about what can be done.
Tradespeople up and down London tell me they are regularly forking out thousands of pounds because they have no faith that once their tools are stolen, they will ever see them again.
We have got to get a grip on this - we are allowing this kind of crime to threaten the livelihoods of so many people.
Something has to change - the Government and the Mayor need to get the Met the resources they need to investigate all crimes properly, and we need to look at tougher clampdowns on the sale of second-hand tools as well.
We badly need more bobbies on the beat - but we must also work with van manufacturers, trade bodies and The Met more widely to clamp down on the scourge. I'm working with likeminded colleagues in Parliament to get this issue the national attention it deserves.
